Combo X999

Combo X999 is a flash animation shooter game designed by Newgrounds.com user alillm-com. The main theme of the game is titled Victory! (8-bit Chiptune) and was written by Newgrounds.com user NickPerrin. This Space Invader-like game was submitted to Newgrounds.com on November 24, 2009 and won a Daily 3rd Place award on November 25, 2009.

Gameplay

The objective of Combo X999 is to shoot down all the enemies and survive for as long as you can. There is essentially no end to the game, as the number of enemies seems to be infinite. The gameplay style is very similar to the classic Space Invader gamer, except there are no levels. Also, the coloring of the enemy can be used to your advantage. Shooting an enemy of one color will destroy all adjacent enemies of the same color. Doing this will get you combo score bonuses. When you finally lose the game, you can submit your score to a global leader board for some friendly competition.

Enemies snake down from the top of the screen. You can only move left and right. Enemies do not fire bullets, but when they snake all the way down and touch you, the game is over. Press A to fire. Killing an enemy will drop a coin that you can collect. Collect enough coins and you can use them to play the slot machine that is on the right of the screen. Press S to automatically play the slot machine. If you match three fruit, you will unleash a special attack.

Occasionally, the game will speed up, and it will tell you that it is doing so. It will also notify you when a new color is added.

Game Controls

Press A to fire.
Press S to use the slot machine when you have enough coins.
Press P to pause.

Review

Combo X999 has a good concept behind it but lacks the gameplay to support it. The idea of matching enemies and shooting them to get combos is nice, but it is not essential in this game. You can just as easily fly left and right and spam A to kill the enemies. In other words, there is no real incentive to shoot enemies to get combos. The slot machine idea is interesting but seems out of place with the rest of the game.

Overall, Combo X999 scores a 5/10. It's entertaining and can be addicting, but it won't keep players that interested for very long.